Charity investment challenge begins at home for Gary Mabbutt

Close links: Mabbutt now works as a club ambassador for Tottenham HotspurCredit:
Getty

30 November 2018 • 9:30am

EToro charity investment challenge motivates former Spurs captain to raise awareness of diabetes and get one over on a few old rivals

Gary Mabbutt is one of Tottenham Hotspur’s all-time greats. After signing in 1982, he went on to play at White Hart Lane for 16 years, including 11 years as captain, winning the UEFA Cup in 1984 and the FA Cup in 1991. He also won 16 England caps, scoring his only international goal against Yugoslavia in 1988.

Despite hanging up his boots for good in 1998, Gary retains a close involvement with Spurs as an official club ambassador and a supporter of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. The club charity aims to use the power of football to solve some of the profound social problems on its doorstep, including unemployment, gang culture and ill health.

The chance to raise money for the foundation led Mabbutt to get involved with eToro’s investment challenge. He will go head to head with six other Premier League legends, including Mark Bright and Francis Benali, to see who can make the most money trading cryptoassets on eToro’s platform.

Special moment: Mabbutt celebrates as Tottenham go 2-1 up in the 1991 FA Cup finalCredit:
Getty

Although there is no prize for the winner except bragging rights, eToro will donate £1,000 to a charity of each legend’s choice.

“This opportunity is great, of course, because it is raising money for charity,” he says. “However, I’m also pleased that I can learn something about how these investments work and educate myself and others. I think it’s a really interesting opportunity. To date, I have only had a very basic knowledge of how these markets work.”

Mabbutt is hardly alone in wanting to understand more about cryptoassets. Once the preserve of a narrow band of computer science graduates, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have exploded into the mainstream in the past five years, attracting a wide and diverse range of investors.

International honours: Mabbutt won 16 caps and scored one goal for EnglandCredit:
Getty

An eToro survey of over 200 independent financial advisors (IFAs) found that more than three in five had been asked about cryptoassets by clients, and that more than a quarter of clients hold or have held cryptoassets.

Mabbutt is going to do his best to make a profit from the challenge for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. “The club is rooted in the local community and has invested a lot of money there,” he says. “My relationship with the club and the foundation is a really fulfilling part of my life. We’ve made a difference in so many areas.”

He has been involved for a number of years with the foundation, which harnesses the power of football to encourage people to take better care of their health and improve their employability, while also supporting other worthy causes.

Club legend: Mabbutt captained Tottenham Hotspur for over a decadeCredit:
Getty

Its representatives go into schools, run health and well-being programmes and help disabled people get back to work. “It is something we’re really proud of at Spurs,” he says.

One example of the foundation in action is the club’s Community Health Checks programme. This targets middle-aged men, a group famously reluctant to visit their GPs, to get appropriate medical tests for conditions such as diabetes (Mabbutt has suffered from type 1 diabetes for 40 years). In Mabbutt’s view, it is a fantastic way of bringing the community together.

While he is primarily motivated by the charity aspect, Gary can’t deny that his old competitive spark is also a motivation. “All people that have been in professional sport are competitive,” he says. “For me, this was also a welcome opportunity.”

Learn more about cryptoassets by joining eToro’s investment community for the fans at eToroFC.com

eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and crypto assets, as well as trading CFD assets.

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 65pc of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Crypto assets are unregulated and can fluctuate widely in price and are, therefore, not appropriate for all investors. Trading crypto assets is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework.

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